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Q&A: Eric Raby of CLAAS — Supply Chains, Biofuels and Farm Technology in 2022

In a spring 2022 Q&A, CLAAS’s Eric Raby discussed longer dealer forecasting, supply constraints, farmer input concerns, biofuels and machinery technology.
Entry355 Date Time3 min MechanicCarCody Team
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This Q&A is a snapshot of CLAAS’s outlook in spring 2022, when supply constraints, rising farm input costs and the war in Ukraine were prominent concerns. Eric Raby, then CLAAS senior vice president for the Americas, discussed how the company was working with dealers, what he heard from farmers, and where he expected agricultural machinery technology to go.

Who is Eric Raby?

Successful Farming’s April 4, 2022 interview described Raby as having more than 30 years of agricultural-equipment industry experience and six years with CLAAS. He grew up on his family’s cattle and tobacco farm in western Kentucky. His first equipment-industry job was as a service apprentice at a local dealership; he later moved into sales after deciding service was not his strength. Successful Farming’s 2022 interview reported those details. A 2021 Progressive Farmer profile said he joined CLAAS of America in 2015 and had served as president and general manager of sales before taking the Americas role. The 2021 profile provides that separate career context.

How was CLAAS managing the supply chain in 2022?

Raby said supply-chain disruption challenged both equipment manufacturers and farmers. CLAAS’s response included asking dealers to forecast customer needs farther ahead: the forecast window had grown from 12 months to 24 months. He stressed that this was the planning horizon, not CLAAS’s equipment lead time. The purpose, as he described it, was to improve transparency among the manufacturer, dealers and customers—not to promise a particular delivery schedule.

“We were forecasting 12 months out and now we’re 24 months out,” Raby told Successful Farming in April 2022. He identified shipping and container logistics, rubber, and electronics—including cables and electronic control units—as particular concerns at that time. These are examples from the 2022 interview, not a statement of current availability or lead times. Read the interview at Successful Farming.

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What concerns were farmers raising in spring 2022?

Raby said farmers were focused on fuel, fertilizer and other input prices, as well as moisture conditions in the Midwest. His remarks capture what he was hearing during that interview; they are not current commodity-price figures or an assessment of crop conditions today.

What did Raby say about biofuels?

Raby framed biofuel adoption as dependent on coordination among three groups: engine manufacturers, fuel providers and legislators. He said CLAAS supported ethanol and that the industry needed more collaboration on biodiesel. He characterized farmer sentiment toward biofuels as generally positive, while emphasizing that fuels need to deliver consistent performance and make commercial sense. His answer was about the conditions for adoption, not a comparison of fuel pathways or a claim that every machine can use every blend. Successful Farming’s Q&A records his comments.

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How was CLAAS responding to the war in Ukraine?

At the time of the April 2022 interview, Raby said CLAAS was focused on humanitarian support for employees in Ukraine and Russia. He said the company’s Kyiv office was closed and shipments to Russia were paused. Those statements describe the company’s reported position then; they should not be read as an update on CLAAS operations today. The dated interview is the source for these details.

What machinery technology did he expect to develop?

Raby anticipated machines making more automatic adjustments as crop conditions changed, alongside diagnostics that could alert customers or dealers to potential issues. He also expected telemetry-enabled remote service and diagnostics to remain important, and pointed to further development of autonomy. These were directions he discussed in 2022, not promised product features or a schedule for their release.

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“I think remote service and remote diagnostics through telemetry are going to continue to be big players,” Raby said in the 2022 interview. Successful Farming’s Q&A includes his comments on diagnostics, remote support and autonomy.

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What later reporting adds—and what it does not

Later coverage provides separate, dated context rather than an update to the 2022 answers. DTN / Progressive Farmer reported on September 16, 2025, that CLAAS introduced its Jaguar 1000 forage harvester series at the Farm Progress Show. The report discussed tariff effects on European-made forage harvesters and CLAAS’s Omaha investment; it said the facility was sending 600 machines a year and work had begun on a 44,800-square-foot research and development center. Those figures belong to the 2025 report, not Raby’s 2022 interview. Read the September 2025 report.

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A separate Farm Equipment interview published August 25, 2024 recorded Raby’s “wait and see” outlook for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025 amid interest-rate, commodity-price, crop-condition and inventory concerns. That was a dated outlook, not a forecast for 2026. See the 2024 interview. RFD-TV also published a January 2026 page about Raby previewing the docuseries CLAAS: Made for More; the available page provides only a limited pointer to that later coverage. View the RFD-TV page.

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